3 New Codes today! Yikes! Any and all advice welcome

SO...

Today me and my Uncle took off my plenum. It was filthy and needed to be cleaned (the reasons for that can be found here http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/technical-chat/238767-removed-charcoal-filter-what-i-found-underneath-made-me-sick-my-stomach.html)

We got that all off. Stuck it in his parts washer and cleaned it out as best as we could. Blasted some sir from a compressor down into it to make sure it was free of loose debris. We stuck that bitch back on and put everything else back together. I fired up the truck and it ran normally. I drove it on the freeway for about 30 minutes. No problems.

I go to the car wash and to give it a bath. I was spraying junks of mud off of parts of the skid plates and frame.

I go to start it up and the starter souded, funny and it didn't idle very well. Let it sit for a while then tried to start it again and it really struggled getting started. There was a decent amount of additional vibration.

I get back on the freeway to go home and it runs fine on the freeway. Solid 45 minutes of driving. There has been no indication this entire time as to a loss of power or performance.

My check engine light has been perpetually on (this whole time) because of my stupid Evap Emission control. I've had this checked twice and it's this stupid system that has a tiny leak that has ZERO effect on how it runs/drives/idles. Now I figure I might as well get a scanner hooked up to make sure there aren't any additional codes considering how strange it's behaving. This is what I find at AutoZone.

P0012
-Camshaft position "A"- timin over advanced bank 1
1. Blocked oil passage
2. Mechanical Timing fault
3. Failed OCV
4. VVT controller assembly fault

P0301
-Cylinder 1 misfire detected
1. Weak/Missing spark
2. Plugged fuel injector
3. Engine mechanical fault
4. Large vacuum leak specific to cylinder

P0031
-Oxygen sensor heater control circuit low- bank1 sensor 1
1. Open or short circuit condition
2. Poor electrical connection
3. Failed Oxygen sensor
4. EFI relay fault

And yes, I double checked to make sure that all hoses and connectors were back where they started out today before we took the plenum off.

I talked to the manager, Pedro, who really sounded like he new his shit. I was very inclined to take the advice he gave (of all the guys I've talked to at this particular AutoZone this was one of the few guys who really sounded confident and very educated about automotive stuff). He believes the number one culprit is the camshaft sensor. His second guess would be oxygen sensor on the exhaust before the catalytic converter.

He said the cam sensor would cause it to struggle to start and could throw all three of those codes. The reason he puts the oxygen sensor at number 2 is that I could have sprayed it really good while washing the underside of my truck.

The thing that makes this all very, very confusing was that while we were sitting there talking about all this stuff, my truck's idle smoothed out. Pedro put his hand on top of the valve cover and commented about how smoothly is was running now.

I just now went out to start it and it's still taking longer than normal to start. I'm thinking I will go with the cam sensor replacement. But, if anyone else has any insight or thoughts, I am open to suggestions.

 

Slow crank?

Most importantly, have you had the battery tested? With all the mud and water you may have starter issues present as well. Get battery/starter tested.

Secondly, check my build thread for a DIY on P0031 from testing to replacement. (this is the air/fuel ratio sensor)

You'll have to dig into P0012. I can see what AllData says about the code at work today.

 

The crank isn't slow. It just sounded different after I got done washing my truck. Now, it sound normal it just takes a few more cranks than normal to fire up. I've owned this truck for a month now and it's always been weird to start. When it's cold in the morning, it fires right up on 1 or 2 crank. But when I'm driving around running errands, after it warms up, it takes a few more cranks and usually I have to bump the throttle to get it going.

I'm going to call a few places today to see if they will test this cam sensor for me to see if it is the problem.

 

Basically its gonna cost me $150 just to get a diagnosis. If anyone is familiar with how to diagnose sensors themselves I could use some advice.

 

I got busy today and wasn't able to look in Alldata.

If ya' wait I can jot down the testing procedures and post em tomorrow, I'm off but going in for a few hours.

 

I would be thankful for any help!